


network love

by blushao (horizsan)



Series: an ode [6]
Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: M/M, based off of seventeen's song network love (v loosely tbh), jeonghan is really mean sorry :((, seokmin is a cyborg, there is no sexual content i don't write that kind of thing as it makes me uncomfortable, there is some discrimination involving physical and verbal abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-04
Updated: 2020-04-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:48:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23483356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/horizsan/pseuds/blushao
Summary: In which Seokmin and Jisoo fall in love despite their society's restrictions.
Relationships: Hong Jisoo | Joshua/Lee Seokmin | DK
Series: an ode [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1684186
Comments: 2
Kudos: 30





	network love

**Author's Note:**

> warnings: discrimination involving physical and verbal abuse
> 
> this and other writing of mine (lots of poetry) can be found on my wattpad account under the same username: blushao
> 
> enjoy!

**HONG JISOO + LEE SEOKMIN**

" _Before meeting you, the world was so huge to me_

_I don't know where is where_

_Now, even if I meet you wherever it is not strange_ "

-

Seokmin felt no pain as the back of his head was slammed against the brick wall of an alley. He just felt himself slowly slipping away from reality as his internal systems went into an emergency shutdown. "Die, you useless piece of scrap metal! You don't belong here, and you never will. Can't believe you really think you have a chance with Jisoo. Someone as good as him would never fall for a hunk of metal like you."

The boy let go of Seokmin's neck, letting him fall to the ground, the metal of his back scraping against the bricks behind him. If he were human, there would surely be a painful throbbing in his head right then, and he may have even been unconscious. But he wasn't human, which was the sole reason why he experienced abuse like this on a daily basis. He was a cyborg, and cyborgs were pretty much untouchables in the awful society he had been born into.

It would have been less of a problem if he was more human than robot, but the accident he had been in that had caused him to need to replace his human body parts with metal and wires was nearly fatal. About seventy five percent of his body was metal, so he was more robot than human, leading to him getting worse treatment than most other cyborgs.

His emergency shutdown stopped, since the threat was now gone. He felt his brain, if you could call it that, waking up again. He wasn't going to make an attempt to stand up quite yet. Every beating from Jeonghan left him pretty battered, and he needed time to pull himself together every time.

What Jeonghan didn't know was that Seokmin did have a chance with Jisoo. Or at least he hoped he had a chance. Jeonghan didn't know that Seokmin and Jisoo were friends, which was a good thing, as that was taboo. He also didn't know that Jisoo hated him, which led to him being completely delusional, and thinking that he could charm Jisoo into dating him by being a horrible person.

Seokmin heard footsteps running down the alley towards him, and groaned, thinking it was Jeonghan coming back to torture him a little more. But then he heard the clear, sweet sound of his favorite voice in the whole world.

"Oh, no, Seokmin, are you okay?"

Seokmin opened his eyes, and replied, "Shh, you never know who could be listening. You shouldn't be seen near me in public."

Jisoo crossed his arms across his chest, and scoffed. "We're in an alley, Seokmin. Who's going to see us? Besides, I don't care if people see. I care about you, and that's what matters."

Seokmin sighed, and said, "You don't mean that. And if you do, you shouldn't. You should care if people see. The reason people attack me like this is because they know that I- you know what, never mind." He made an attempt to stand up so that Jisoo would quit worrying about him and leave, but he stumbled immediately. Jisoo grabbed his arm and held him up, looking up at him with worry in his oh-so-pretty eyes.

"Seokmin, what happened?"

Seokmin shook his head, and pulled his arm away from Jisoo, almost stumbling again because of his own momentum. "It's just Jeonghan being an asshole again, don't worry about it. I'll be fine in a bit. You really should go. It won't be good for either one of us if someone sees us."

Jisoo gave Seokmin a pout, and said, "But you're hurt, Seokmin. I can't just leave you here like this." He reached out his hand to grab Seokmin's arm again, but Seokmin gently pushed his hand away.

"Yes, you can, Jisoo. I promise I'll be fine. Now go. I'll see you later at Rita's, okay?"

Seokmin stared at Jisoo, a look in his eyes that was begging the other boy to just listen to him before something bad happened to both of them. Jisoo took the hint, finally, and nodded, ducking his head and running out of the alley. He turned the corner at the perfect time to avoid being seen by a group of teenagers who were yelling and laughing with one another.

Seokmin pulled out the small array of tools he always kept in his pocket, crawling over to retrieve the tiny piece of the back of his head that had come off when Jeonghan slammed him against the wall. With the aid of a tiny compact mirror which had been a gift from Jisoo, he managed to get it back in its proper place. He checked to make sure there were no other parts of the robot bit of him that needed fixing, and once he had confirmed everything was fine, he stood up again.

Seokmin waited until there was nobody on the sidewalks, and slunk out of the alley, managing to make it to Rita's without being noticed. Rita's was a small shop on the outskirts of the city. They sold Italian ice (which Seokmin thought was very good), and not very many humans ever went there. It was one of the only places in the city that was somewhat safe for cyborgs to go to.

He pushed open the door, which squeaked on its rusty hinges. The store's only employee nodded at him from behind the counter, giving him a wordless greeting. Seokmin noticed Jisoo sitting in a booth at the very back, putting a spoonful of watermelon lime Italian ice into his mouth.

Seokmin slid into the booth next to Jisoo, and said, "See, I'm fine now. I told you not to worry." The employee placed an Italian ice in front of him, his usual order of raspberry lemon, and went back to her spot behind the counter. Jisoo swirled his spoon around in his Italian ice which had half melted in the mildly uncomfortable heat of the shop, and stayed silent.

Seokmin reached out and squeezed Jisoo's arm gently, and whispered, "Come on, Jisoo, say something. I'm totally fine, and like I've said many times, you have nothing to worry about."

Jisoo stood up and shoved his spoon into his Italian ice, making some of what was now pink slush splash over the edge of the container onto the table. He looked up at Seokmin, and if Seokmin didn't know better, he would have thought Jisoo's eyes were on fire. "That's the thing though, Seokmin. I _do_ have something to worry about. I have _you_ to worry about. Someone hurt you badly enough that three quarters of your body needed to be replaced with robot parts, including most of your brain and nervous system. What if someone hurts you that badly again, huh? Then what am I gonna do? I care about you, Seokmin, and you can't just tell me to stop."

Seokmin looked down at his hands, which were folded in his lap. He didn't lift his head, knowing he would cry if he met Jisoo's eyes. Of course, out of all the things the incident destroyed, it left his tear ducts completely intact. He opened his mouth to say something, but his lips and tongue felt too dry to speak.

He heard Jisoo sit back down, and the other boy said, "Whenever you're ready, we can continue this conversation. Take your time." He took another bite of his Italian ice, and asked, "Hey, Minnie, can I have a bite of yours?"

Seokmin nodded, still not looking up at Jisoo. After a few more minutes of silence, Seokmin finally looked up, still avoiding Jisoo's eyes. "I- I'm really sorry, Jisoo, I- I didn't know it meant that much to you. I just didn't think you needed to worry about my problems. This is between Jeonghan and I, and I didn't want you making yourself sick worrying about me."

Jisoo nodded, and shrugged, taking a second bite of Seokmin's Italian ice. "I know that. But at the same time, I know that it's mostly my fault that he keeps hurting you like this. One of his friends tipped me off to it, and they said that they don't think what Jeonghan is doing is right, but they're in no position to stop him."

The blood drained from Seokmin's face, and he raised his eyebrows, looking back down at his hands again. "You...uh...you know?"

Jisoo reached under the table, and grabbed Seokmin's hand. "Yeah, I do. And don't worry about anything, because I feel the same way about you. The only issue here is society."

Seokmin's eyes flicked up to meet Jisoo's, and he raised one eyebrow, cocking his head. "You feel the same? Like, you like me? As more than just a friend?"

Jisoo squeezed Seokmin's hand, and whispered, "Yeah, I do, and I have for a long time. I wish we could actually, you know, be together, but...I mean it's not illegal for a cyborg and a human to be together, but it may as well be with the way people would treat both of us. I- I'm sorry, Seokmin, I really am, but the fact of the matter is, we can never be with one another. Concealing a relationship like that would be a hundred times harder than hiding our friendship like we do now."

Seokmin nodded, and squeezed Jisoo's hand back. He ran his tongue across his lips, and held his bottom lip between his teeth for a few seconds before he found the words to respond. Under his breath, he said, "I know. I know, Jisoo. It sucks, but that's the way the world works right now. And who knows, in the future, it may change, but right now, this is the way things are, and we'll just have to deal with it."

-

Seokmin winced as his body was slammed against the hood of a police car, his cheek throbbing a bit after it had hit the metal. His hands were yanked behind his back, and a hand was holding his head down, making sure he had no ability to fight back.

"Lee Seokmin, you are under arrest for physically assaulting a human being. You have the right to remain silent, as anything you say can and will be held against you in a court of law."

Seokmin rolled his eyes, and thought to himself, _That's a joke. Cyborgs don't have the right to be tried for crimes in court. We get punished, without the chance to prove whether we're guilty or innocent_. He felt handcuffs being locked around his wrists, and the officer lifted him off the hood of the car and unceremoniously shoved him into the backseat.

Seokmin was being arrested for a crime he hadn't committed. But sadly, Jeonghan had felt so malicious as to have one of his friends beat him up, and then pin it on Seokmin, who just so happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

He may have had a small chance at not being put in jail if he had been framed by anyone other than Jeonghan. Jeonghan's family had a lot of money, and were extremely influential in the city. They got what they wanted, no matter what it was. Jeonghan could probably have him executed if he felt like it.

When they arrived, he was immediately put in a cell by himself. Prisons never housed humans and cyborgs together, and all the other cyborg cells were full. He was allowed one phone call, which was a luxury he hadn't expected to get.

Of course, he dialed Jisoo's number. Thankfully, Jisoo answered the phone, with a confused, "Hello?"

"Oh, thank goodness you picked up. Jeonghan got me arrested, and I just wanted to let you know so that you wouldn't freak out if you heard it from someone else." He rubbed at his wrists, which still ached a little bit. The handcuffs had been a little tight, and struggling against them had created marks in his wrist.

He heard a gasp from the other end of the line, and Jisoo asked, "What do you mean he got you arrested? How?"

Seokmin sighed, and replied, "He framed me. Had one of his friends beat him up and pinned the whole thing on me. Just my luck that I was in the very wrong place at the even more wrong time." Seokmin could hear Jisoo trying to muffle his sobs, but whatever technique he was trying definitely was not working.

"Hey, hey, Jisoo, don't cry. It's gonna be okay. I'll find a way to get out of here."

Jisoo choked out, "No, it isn't. Jeonghan has the power to get you killed, Minnie. I- I don't know what to say or do, I-"

Seokmin moved the phone to his other ear so that he could rub the handcuff marks on his other wrist. "Jisoo, it's all right. I'll find a way out of this. They told me they were going to decide on a punishment about this time tomorrow. I've got twenty four hours, I'll see what I can do. I'm only allowed one phone call, which is this one, that I didn't even expect to get, but is there anything you need to say before I hang up?"

There was silence on the other line for almost two minutes before Jisoo finally answered. "I love you."

Seokmin didn't get a chance to say, "I love you too," before the line went dead. Jisoo had hung up.

-

Seokmin finally let out the breath he didn't realize he had been holding. He had managed to slip through the bars of his cell window unnoticed. Of course, he had gotten stuck a few times, but after a little bit of pain, he'd been able to get through.

Once he had gotten off the property of the prison, he stuck to the shadows, making sure to avoid streetlights. If any cars came by, he made sure to stay out of the way of their lights, so that they wouldn't reflect off of the metal parts of his body.

Since he had to be so cautious, it took him almost an hour to make it to Jisoo's home. He climbed up the fire escape of the apartment building, and quietly knocked on Jisoo's window. His bedroom light was on, and Seokmin could see Jisoo's shadow through the thin white curtains.

After a few moments, Jisoo opened the window, and the second he saw Seokmin, tears filled his eyes and a smile spread across his face. "Minnie, you- this is great, but how am I gonna hide you from my parents and everyone and-"

Seokmin cut him off, grabbing his face in his hands and pulling him in for a kiss. "We can figure that out later, Soo. Right now, what matters is that I'm here. I never got to say this earlier, but I love you too."

**Author's Note:**

> i hope you enjoyed this! please feel free to let me know your thoughts and/or give me constructive criticism in the comments :)


End file.
